ussian officials were the very pink of courtesy.
One learns a great deal of geography on journeys of this kind; we had
not realized the extent to which Finland, with its special money, its
special language, and its special frontier worries, was distinct from
Russia. The train took three days and nights between Stockholm and
Petrograd, and one was supposed to fetch up at the terminus somewhere
about midnight; but it always took two or three hours to get through
the frontier station between Finland and Russia at the last moment,
with the result that one might arrive at the capital at any hour of
the early morning. When we at last steamed into our destination we
found awaiting us on the platform Count Zamoyski, a great Polish
landowner and A.D.C. to the Emperor, who had been appointed to attend
me, with Colonel Knox, our Military Attache, and we were driven off in
Imperial carriages to the Hotel d'Europe.

Our object was to reach Mohileff, where Russian General Headquarters,
known as the "Stavka," were stationed. But the Emperor happened to be
away from there just at the moment, so that we were obliged to wait in
Petrograd for two or three days until His Majesty should have
returned. Still, there was plenty to be done and seen in the capital.
In the first place there were the official calls on the Imperial
family to pay; that, however, was merely a case of writing names in
the books for the purpose. Then there was the Embassy to be visited,
to enable me to make the acquaintance of Sir G. Buchanan and the
Embassy staff. Sir George was not in the best of health, and he
obviously stood in need of a rest and change of air--the climate of
Petrograd is trying, making it an undesirable place for prolonged
residence--but the unique position that he held in the eyes of the
Russians of all shades of opinion made it almost impossible for him to
leave the capital. Diplomats as a class are not generally popular in
military circles abroad, and that was perhaps more marked in Russia
than in most countries, but our ambassador was held in extraordinary
esteem even amongst soldiers who only knew him by name. Properly
supported from home, he would have proved a priceless asset when
things were going from bad to worse in the latter part of 1916 and the
early days of 1917.

I had interviews with General Polivanoff, the War Minister, Admiral
Grigorovitch, the Minister of Marine, and M. Sazonoff, the Foreign
Minister. General Polivanoff told m